A year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of individuals remained out of work. This report presents data on labor market weakness and describes how the COVID-19 recession has exacerbated inequality and how the threat of long-term unemployment particularly impacts people of color. This report makes the case for a permanent subsidized employment program to respond to short-term needs and support disadvantaged workers even in economically better times. It highlights research on the benefits of subsidized employment for program participants and communities. It also highlights lessons learned from the TANF Emergency Fund, enacted during the Great Recession, and the value of subsidized employment in hard economic times as a means to recover from the COVID-19 economic downturn.

This blogpost identifies research on the skills adults need to effectively navigate digital spaces and what educators can do to support adult learning to build digital skills. Topics covered include: understanding graphics, digital interfaces, and online reproduction skills; reading online and comprehending digital texts; the importance of real-time thinking, social, and emotional skills; and ways to support adult digital literacy.

Governor Chris Sununu and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently released "Helping Business Thrive and Families Prosper", a paper on the impact of the “Cliff Effect” on New Hampshire’s families and employers. The paper examines how these “benefits cliffs” keep families from climbing up and out of poverty and into self-sufficiency, the resulting workforce challenges for employers, and action steps for policymakers, employers, and other stakeholders to work collectively to end the Cliff Effect.

During the 2020 Whole Family Approach Institute, participants received specialized support related to service integration, received peer-learning opportunities as well as access to expert presentations, and learned about building blocks critical to Whole Family Approach success. They also learned practical insights to improve the design of a Theory of Change, Logic Model and plan for data collection and use. Resources, presentations, session handouts, and a series of videos are available.

The family-centered coaching approach allows staff to partner with families holistically, taking into account their strengths and goals, challenges, and systemic barriers. This toolkit offers strategies, tools, and resources that can help programs, agencies, case managers, coaches, and others change how they work with families striving to reach their goals by planning for and intentionally changing the way coaching is delivered to families. A key goal of the toolkit is to encourage caseworkers to work with families toward a coaching philosophy that places the participant in the lead, with staff playing a critical supporting role. The toolkit offers a framework that incorporates multiple approaches, with goal setting as a key technique of supporting families in making the changes they need.

This blogpost illustrates how to cope with negative emotions spurred by holidays and family gatherings. The blogpost presents the Change Triangle to providers as a guide to help clients work with emotions and the ways they avoid them, as well as steps to “work the triangle” and identify and be with emotions so they stay connected with themselves. Vignettes explain how two individuals used the Change Triangle, and five suggestions are presented to help families and individuals get through the holidays.

Children and youth are dealing with new challenges due to COVID-19, like social distancing, changes to their routines, and a lost sense of security and safety, making them especially vulnerable to feeling stressed, anxious, or depressed. For some children, these challenges are exacerbated by the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on their communities. Black and Hispanic Americans, in particular, have faced a disproportionate share of COVID-19 cases. The tools offered in five interactive videos, tailored for either younger children and their parents or for youth and teens, help support their emotional wellbeing by guiding an understanding about how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all connected.

During the holiday season, families are dealing with stress from multiple sources, including navigating how to safely gather given the COVID-19 safety protocols. This National Child Traumatic Stress Network fact sheet offers parents and caregivers a set of strategies and ideas to make the holiday season special. These strategies include starting a family conversation on what has changed and how family members are feeling, finding ways to make connections, making small moments matter, keeping a routine, and noticing good things. The fact sheet also suggests ideas for self-care and notes on how to find available help and support.

This online fact sheet begins with an illustration of the body areas affected by stress and a list of anxiety symptoms. The fact sheet follows with several questions about holiday depression, anxiety, and stress, and their causes, risk factors, symptoms, and signs. Questions include: How do health care professionals diagnose and treat holiday, anxiety, stress, and depression? What kinds of specialists treat them? What are possible complications and the prognosis? and Is it possible to prevent holiday depression, anxiety, and stress?

Despite reduced COVID-19 casualties, the pandemic has substantially impacted social determinants of health. Inadequate housing, unemployment, poor nutrition, and poverty can have lasting impacts on one’s physical and emotional well-being. The Healthcare Association of New York State and the State University of New York at Albany are hosting a monthly Understanding and Eliminating Minority Health Disparities webinar series which examines COVID-19’s impact on racial and ethnic inequities affecting New Yorkers. The next webinar on December 14, 2021 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET will discuss the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on social determinants of health and the value of partnering with communities to achieve the most effective interventions.